| |
| Shlomo Nitzan |
The Private Empire of Zmiri Picasso |
| Novel |
Tel Aviv, Sifriat Poalim, 1982. 220 pp.
|
Zmiri, nicknamed "Picasso" by the Nazis in a concentration camp, is a building contractor in Tel Aviv who has become rich and built an "empire." His wife, a Holocaust survivor who has never spoken of her terrible past, and his son Gabriel share in the wealth. Gabriel, however, is restless. With military service ahead, he is full of questions about his parents' past and doubts concerning his own future. The confused teenager goes to his father's home town in Romania to search for his roots. With mixed feelings, he then goes to visit his Uncle Max in Hamburg who is the epitome of the individualist, solitary Jew with no desire to belong to his people. As Gabriel leaves, he decides to go back to Israel and stay "where he belongs." In the final episode, Gabriel and his girlfriend stroll down to the seashore and are attacked by Arab terrorists. As the novel ends, they both lie sprawled on the sand, wounded, possibly dead.
|
|
|